Asperger's and weird taste in music.

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People are really underestmating the power of this in us!

I used to only listen to popular music when I was twelve and thirteen. When I was thirteen I went through an indie rock only phase. That phase ended when I admitted to myself how boring most indie rock is. I do care what people think and I only play my normal music(Metric, Adele, Florence + and the Machine) out loud.

Well heres my music history, As a kid I got my hands on whatever my parents had that I liked(mostly classic rock), my dad made a driving tape that had great influance on me, it included Jackson Browne, Meat Loaf, Commander Cody etc. I still recall making the mistake of declairing Commander Cody's Hot Rod Lincon to be my fav song in grade 1, not that I care anyway. Alt rock during grades 5-6 I went through a quick country phase in grade 7 then back to classic rock and then i got introduced to indie alt folk/roots rock at age 15 and my life was changed forever and my special intrest began. today I listen to everything from alt folk to alt rock, very pickey though on what I like and who what kind of person I like.

My mind is always open so I have no clue what is coming next for me although I got a good laugh when I herd Mumford and sons won record of the year and when they got air play on the "cool" station as I used to get bullyed for listining to people who sounded alot like that back in elementry school. Thing is I have already mostly moved on to something else! In an odd way people like us(exploring music fans not just people with AS) actually set the trends and build the foundation for the popular acts and sheepe music fans to stand on although by then we often no longer reconize the artists and music and have moved on.

Last edited by rapidroy on 28 Mar 2013, 6:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I don't think we're necessarily more into unusual music. I think we just have the drive to go with what we like, unlike NTs who need peer acceptance for their taste

I had my nordic folk obsessed years ago . Now I'm more into medieval folk scene, specially the german one (last 5-10 years, it has grown exponentially).

Hedningarna was my favourite group by far. I used to listen a lot to Värttinä (I love the Kalevala, have you ever listen to it live? it's sounds far better than recorded), that was the first group I discovered, Gjallarhorn and Garmarna. As you can see, not exactly the more actual ones. From more modern times I like Valravn. Mostly I liked the Swedish-Finnish area, never was too much into Norwegian folk.

And of course, the levan polkka

I don't really know if my taste in music is weird persay, but I strongly dislike/hate/stay the heck away from most mainstream music nowadays. I can't stand all the new pop music. It all sounds the same. It sounds fake and overloads my sensories. Too much bad music in the background, the lyrics are repetitive, and all about gross things. I also do NOT like rap. I don't understand the affection it earns. Also I stay away from the radio.

I listen to a mix of music. I like to listen to a certain YouTube cover artist's music, he does really awesome covers of sometimes really mainstream songs, and makes them awesome! I also like gothic/violin/piano/relaxing/dark/emotional instrumental music.
I also enjoy Iron and Wine's style of music and almost all the songs on the Twilight Saga soundtracks.

I don't know. I just despise most music made after 2010. Not all, but most. I also have a strong dislike for One Direction. I don't understand why my younger sister(who's NT) loves them so much. She covered one entire wall with just pictures of them. They honestly scare me.... I don't know why. I tried to listen to them once so maybe if I liked them, I could have something in common with my sister, but I couldn't handle it. I got stressed listening to it and had to put my earbuds back in and listen to my own music.

I know my taste in music differs from at least mostly everyone in my school, because I don't know who in the world they're talking about half the time when they're talking about music, all I know is that it's usually a mainstream rap/hip hop/pop artist who is as tasteless and as fake as the last. *sorry if what I said offended anyone, I was just voicing my opinion*

I have been listening to a lot of Värttinä. I haven't listened to the Kalevala yet. I'm not too crazy about Garmarna, but sometimes I'm in the mood for Gjallarhorn. I also like Valravn, but I haven't been in the mood for them lately. I also like the Nordic electronic music scene. I also love Ievan polkka. I used to love the Holly Dolly song when I was ten, but I only liked it because of the melody. I love the original version way more. I have listened to medieval German music, but I didn't find any bands I liked that much. I like Mediaval Babes and Miranda Sex Garden.

I guess it's tough to define "weird" as others have said. The music I like is not necessarily what's trendy nowadays, but much of it is still fairly well-known and accessible. (It does seem like a lot of other aspies have much more obscure tastes than I do, not that there's anything wrong with that.) Perhaps I'm "weird" in the sense that I don't really confine myself to one particular genre or era of music, but then again I think even that's fairly common now. I guess I'm also weird in the sense that it's sometimes hard for me to really describe why I like a certain song or artist (and why I may not like another song or artist that's deemed to be similar). I probably don't pay as much attention to lyrics as most people (though sometimes they can stand out as really good or bad), and am not an expert on instruments, but I still have a sense of what I feel is good quality music and songwriting.

Same with Gjallarnhorn, sometimes in the mood, but not that often. They're often too close to gothic metal for me. That's a big problem I find in nordic pagan folk: they're too influenced by metal, something that I don't really enjoy. At the end, I'm always go back to Värttinä and Hedningarna. Gladly, Hedningarna is touring again but without the two finnish singers

With regard to German medieval folk, I would recommend Die Irrlichter. It's like Medieval Baebes but less polyphonic and more istrumental. It's my favourite medieval group by far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXZ9k1NTo4s
Another recommendation is the Eden album from Faun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lWGlYhAUL0
Carved in Stone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NNjbdTqfRI
Sava:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2NBsSvzXzY
And Omnia (though they're not german but dutch). They're very irregular, but this 9 minutes musical version of the classic Allan Poe's poem is amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQyGWZWqKT8

Are you talking about me?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzsdza2iyvE[/youtube]

Is what my username is based off. Take that for what you want.

Not particularly you, but you would be an example. It seems like of the music discussion in the relevant section of the board is focused on stuff I haven't heard of, and probably wouldn't be able to really get into. Which, again, is fine - in fact, I admire people with more adventurous tastes.

I listen to all sorts of music. If it has pleasant melody or a catchy beat or a throbbing deep base, anything is deemed appropriate by me. I'm really into electro swing/ jazz just now (new stuff with an old flavour).

I listen to a little of everything but country. We don't even have that genre where I live.

As far as I can tell, "weird" is being defined as "music that few or none of the people I am around routinely listen to". Every genre of music is "normal" to some group of people and "weird" to a different group.

These days because of the proliferation of ways that music is dispersed, there isn't really any "mainstream" anymore either. The days when music was disperesed mainly by terrestrial radio are long over. Back then, "hit" and "popular" had meaning. They don't anymore. Music consumption has fragmented into so many non-overlapping niches that it really only makes sense to say that an artist or band is popular or mainstream within that genre. Rap has its' fans, country has its' fans, jazz has its' fans, rock has its' fans, dance has its' fans etc. etc. etc. Withing each genre, some artists rise to prominence and some remain obscure but to say that there is such a thing as popular vs. obscure doesn't really make sense anymore. Musicians that some are calling obscure can have literally millions of fans but if you aren't near any of those fans by geography or peer group, this music with millions of fans can seem "weird" just because you don't happen to interact IRL with its' fan base.

Peer influence on music choice is important when NTs are young. But it weakens with age. By the 30th birthday, that influence is pretty much irrelevent. I think this is because (in some countries, including but not limited to the US, UK, Japan) of the ways young people establish peer group affiliation. It is extremely important for young NTs (about 15-25) to choose a group and music is often a way to make that choice. A famous and much academically analyzed example of this was the Mods vs. Rockers in 60's Britain (Cockney Rebel will know what I'm talking about, as the Kinks were identified as Mod). A current example in the US is Insane Clown Posse and their Juggalo fans. Japanese young people break up into well-defined music niche groups whose names I don't know. I am guessing this happens in Australia too but I don't know specifics and welcome any examples from the many Australian posters.

AS music fans will not be choosing music based on choosing a peer group. (And it is more nuanced than listening to "what other people are listening to". There are many groups and each one has a particular music and a choice of which group to join and therefore which music to listen to must be made.) There may be WP posters who found themselves at the fringes of a particular group (or right in it!) based on the music already chosen, but the music choice will come first, before the group affiliation, which probably won't be a very tight affiliation given the AS.

But all that wears off in the mid to late twenties and is pretty much gone by the 30th birthday (with some hardcore exceptions). So although two 15 year olds may mock each other over music choices, two 35 year olds couldn't possibly care less what the other is listening to. Music stops defining the peer group affiliation and peer group affiliations are chosen other ways, such as by political stance.

I'm thinking people with AS are far more likely to be this exception due to social issues and having stronger then usual special intrests.

My user name owes itself to a Jim Croce song a friend used to call me after. Not my fav song however it sounds good on the internet.